Understanding factors that drive destination brand hate in China: scale development and validation

Tourists' negative sentiments, particularly hate, can severely damage a destination's brand image by influencing cognitions and behaviors. This study addresses the gap in research on factors driving destination brand hate in China's tourism industry. Using a mixed-methods approach (big-data mining, interviews, and surveys), the study identifies a seven-factor scale: management and operational failures, service apathy and unprofessionalism, safety deficits and social injustice, pricing opacity and perceived exploitation, commercialization and cultural erosion, unkept promises and unmet expectations, and cultural and environmental degradation. Destination brand hate triggers cognitive consequences, such as shifts in brand attitudes or reinforcement of negative perceptions, and behavioral consequences, including negative word-of-mouth and refusal to revisit. This provides a valuable tool for researchers and managers to understand and mitigate destination brand hate in China.